"Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Miss Georgiana Darcy, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam!"

Mentally making a note to warn her footmen to keep their voices down, Diana stood up from her perch on the divan and curtsied deeply, straightening up and kissing both women's cheeks before offering the men her hand. "I did not expect to see you all so soon!" she greeted, smilingly. Richard's lips lingered against her hand, and she resisted the urge to blush. She quickly turned to Elizabeth. "How is your family faring, dear?"

Elizabeth murmured her answer, and Diana's smile faltered at the lifelessness of her tone. Once they were all seated, she noted the tense look about them, and raised her eyebrows. "As lovely as it is to see all of you, I really must ask what is the matter?"

Georgiana did not speak. Darcy hesitated and Elizabeth kept her eyes on the floor, though she looked annoyed. Richard, however, rolled his eyes. Diana looked at him expectantly. He huffed. "Some busybody took it upon herself to spread a rumour about Elizabeth."

"A rumour," repeated Diana. She raised an eyebrow when no one elaborated. "You all look depressed because of a rumour?"

"A rumour that is unfortunately very much grounded in fact," said Elizabeth quietly.

"I see," Diana waited for elaboration once more, but it did not come.

Darcy cleared his throat. "You have a music-room, Lady Herbert, do you not?"

Diana blinked. "Of course," she answered slowly. Darcy's deliberate gaze on his sister, who still had not raised her eyes, made her realize what he meant. She jumped up immediately. "Oh, Miss Georgiana, would you be so kind as to play me a song on the pianoforte? I haven't played in months and its slowly driving me mad!"

Georgiana stood up immediately at the request, looking as if she had expected it. Diana led her to the music room, which fortunately was adjoining her sitting room. She left the door ajar and waited until the music started before turning to her guests expectantly. The music would give them a good deal of privacy, and she silently commended Darcy's quick thinking. She sat down on the sofa and laid a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder kindly. "You don't need to be afraid that I will be indiscreet. Did you come for my help?" Elizabeth bit her lip, but nodded. Diana smiled. "I will be happy to help you, of course. Tell me."

"My sister and her husband arrived in town two nights ago and came to my aunt's house the afternoon after our dinner with Lady Fitzwilliam," began Elizabeth. "She had been to Hertfordshire first, and finding that I was in town she came to see me. Mr. Darcy felt the need to include her in his invitation to dine at his home last night," her tone stated clearly that there had been no need to do such a thing. "Her husband was pointedly not invited. I do not know what Lydia said or did, but this morning my aunt met a friend at the milliner's and was informed that half the ton is under the impression that I am in love with my sister's husband."

The very idea of Elizabeth being in love with someone who was not Mr. Darcy made Diana laugh, and she couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. She shook her head. "My dear, anyone who has seen you two together knows that to be a complete lie."

"As far as being in love with him goes, it is a lie," agreed Elizabeth. Her cheeks were slightly pink, no doubt uncomfortable discussing her private feelings in front of her future husband and his cousin. "However –" and Elizabeth proceeded to tell her the story of Lydia's husband and how they had met, how he had charmed her and worked to ruin Mr. Darcy's reputation and succeeded in all ways until Elizabeth had learned the truth of his character.

Diana listened intently and patted her hand when she was done, however there was no fooling her: from the narration, she knew there was a significant part of the story that Elizabeth had neglected to mention to her, but Diana could not bring herself to ask what it was. This man's reputation was bad, but vague. If Diana did not know Fitzwilliam Darcy, she would have been sure it was just a case of jealousy. However, knowing the family the way she did, she knew Darcy cared for London as little as she did, if not less. Rumours would not bother him, but for some reason, this one did. She frowned. "I really do not understand. The man may be bad, but I'm sure people thought I was in love with ten men before I was married. How does this –"

"Diana," Richard's voice was low when he interrupted her. Diana stopped talking immediately, more out of surprise than obedience. However, she turned her eyes to him and saw that he looked grave. "Lydia's husband is George Wickham."

Diana's eyes widened. "Wickham?" she asked incredulously. "That cad you went to university with? Your steward's son?" she directed the last question at Darcy, who seemed surprised that she knew so much. He nodded stiffly, but Diana did not apologize for her language. "What on earth possessed you to allow that man within two feet of a gentleman's family?" she demanded.

"Lydia eloped with him," said Elizabeth. Her surprised eyes flickered from Diana to Richard. "Is this why you insisted we talk to her?" she asked the colonel. Richard nodded. "How do you know him, Diana?"

"I've never met him, I've only heard of him," answered Diana. She gestured to Richard. "When we first met, he would tell me about his university days and Wickham was someone who often came up, though never kindly. In my first season in town I was friends with a Miss Walker, and after I married she wrote to tell me she was being courted by someone by the name of Wickham. When I found out it was the same one I told her immediately, and she soon found out for herself what he was truly like. She was an heiress, of course, and rather silly, but she had an excellent sense of self-preservation."

Everyone in the room looked uncomfortable at her story, and Diana could not figure out what was wrong. Darcy stood up and walked to the open door, checking on his sister. He did not sit down and turned back, his jaw tense. "It appears he is now back because he has burned through most of the money he had when we last met, and he is expecting a decent amount in return for his quitting town immediately."

"And he's spreading rumours that your future wife is in love with your ex-steward's son?"

"I do not think he planned to spread any rumours, his presence in itself is unsettling enough," replied Darcy.

"It was probably Lydia being ridiculous," said Elizabeth exasperatedly. "She talks too much, and I am sure she said something inappropriate at dinner the other night. There were many guests there."

"If its money he wants, then pay him and send him to hell," Diana waved a hand dismissively. "Scum like that belong wherever dead Frenchmen go. Pardon me," she added to Elizabeth. "I do not know if your sister is aware of his true character."

"I do not think she cares," sighed Elizabeth.

"Then perhaps it would be best for you to send them back to your mother's home. What does Wickham do?"

Darcy answered her quickly. "Military."

"Then send him back and stay in London until he cannot possibly wait for your return. Rumours like this come and go, Elizabeth, you do not have to worry about them following you forever. What you should do is get rid of him as soon as possible. Out of sight, out of mind," Diana shrugged. "I will spend my morning in my parlour, I think, tomorrow. If I receive callers, I will do what I can to dispel this nonsense."

"Would you?" Elizabeth looked hopeful.

"Of course, dear," Diana smiled. "Don't fret. This is hardly something a new bride should be worried about. But you must know that your family history will not stay private forever. You are a country lass, but you're marrying a rich man," she gestured to Darcy. "They will want to know what you have that their daughters do not, though I'm not sure George Wickham is top of the list," she rolled her eyes and couldn't help but turn to Richard accusatorily. "Why did you not beat him to a pulp when you laid eyes on him is what I want to know!"

Richard looked surprised at the viciousness of her tone, but his lips twitched. For some reason, her anger seemed to amuse him. "I did not want to deny you the opportunity, should you meet him on the street."

"If I see any questionable men near me, you can be sure I will smack them with the most readily available weapon, even if it is my parasol," retorted Diana.

Elizabeth laughed at that, and the colour returned to Darcy's face at his fiancé's obvious relief. Diana smiled at them and got up, calling Georgiana back and asking a footman to bring some tea.

Okay I know I promised a chapter about Richard's perspective but I couldn't resist adding this in. If it helps, I plan to update sooner with the new chapter because I consider this just a filler, I expect its time I show that there was a reason Lady Fitzwilliam wanted Diana to help Elizabeth, since there is just so much that can go wrong before they get married.

On a side note: I know everyone likes Elizabeth and Diana's friendship, but I also wanted to highlight the fact that this is a primarily Richard/OC story and while I do love writing about Elizabeth and Darcy, I want to really focus on my own character's developing relationships with everyone rather than making this a typical story where my character is suddenly the reason everyone has a HEA. I love writing about flaws, and in my opinion Diana has plenty, but her heart's in the right place, which is why interactions with other characters are so few.

Sorry about the rant. Special thanks to the lovely Lynette, suddenlysingle, JN, LovePP and LookingAnswers for the words of encouragement! In answer to your questions, yes I plan to add a few sprinklings of conversations between Richard and Diana exclusively, and I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the mentions about Caroline Bingley.

Thanks for the reviews! Much love xx